by Laura Dower
Fiona giggled. “I’m getting a salad.” She moved down the line with her cafeteria tray.
Gilda Z the Lunchroom Lady grinned at the girls as they passed by. “Try the lasagna, it’s delish,” she said, scooping some onto a plate.
Aimee grabbed the dish and kept moving. She hoped the vegetables would taste okay, even though what was on her plate looked more like rainbow mush. The three friends walked toward the back of the room where they’d scoped out “their” table since the start of school. It was bright orange—Madison’s favorite color in the world.
The lunchroom was packed with seventh graders, including Madison’s mortal enemy, “Poison” Ivy Daly. Since third grade, Madison had been shooting glares and swapping barbs with Ivy. Junior high had been even worse.
Ivy sat in the middle of the room at a yellow table with her drones, Rose and Joanie, a pair of girls who followed Ivy wherever she went. As they passed by, Aimee and Madison purposely looked away. But Fiona said a cheery hello.
Ivy smiled back. “Why don’t you sit with us, Fiona?”
Aimee grabbed Fiona’s elbow gently—and shot Ivy a look.
“Uh …” Fiona stammered, glancing over at Madison, who shook her head.
“What’s your problem?” Madison asked Ivy.
“What’s yours?” Ivy snapped.
“Fiona already has a place to sit,” Aimee said with a sneer.
Fiona and her salad just kept on moving.
When the trio got to the back of the room, they were greeted by a bunch of boys flicking peas and carrots across the table. The lunchroom lady had stepped away, so no one would be caught for this particular lunchroom violation. Egg was in charge of the miniature vegetable shooting. Of course.
Just seeing Egg, Drew, and Chet together made her stomach flip-flop. Madison sat as far away from them as she could. Chet was laughing really loudly too, which made the whole scene even worse. He sounded like a siren.
“My brother is such a geek,” Fiona whispered. “I don’t know how I can possibly be related to him.”
“Didn’t you say your birthdays were coming up soon?” Aimee asked.
“Yeah, a reminder that we are twins,” Fiona groaned. She rolled her eyes. “And it’s not too exciting, believe me. We’ll just do what we usually do. Eat a boring family dinner. Blow out the candles on a plain vanilla cake with chocolate-cream frosting. Try to keep sane as all my aunts and uncles call and ask the same things. Mom will buy us some dumb twin gift, like a matching outfit or something. She’s been doing that since we were babies.”
“That sounds kind of cool to me,” Madison said. Since she was an only child with divorced parents, any kind of major “family” event sounded cool to her. She’d always wished for a brother or sister.
“I know what you mean about family events, Fiona,” Aimee said. “I get so sick of my brothers when it’s my birthday. They tease me a lot.”
From the other end of the table, Chet let out another loud laugh. Fiona yelled at him to shut up, which got the entire table into a shouting match.
Madison stared off into space, watching and listening to everything like it was in slo-mo. She stared down at her slab of vegetable lasagna, which tasted like wet paper with tomato sauce, and turned once more to look at Ivy. Her enemy stood flipping her hair before a group of girls. Poison Ivy would figure out a way to create a winning webpage, Madison thought. If only—
“Maddie?” Fiona interrupted. “Are you entering that computer contest?”
“What?” Madison turned to Fiona, a little surprised. “What did you say?”
“My brother, Chet, told me about the contest last night. He told me that he’s doing it with Egg. Like he even has a chance! I mean, it sounds way more like your thing than his—”
Madison smiled. “Thanks. I just wish I had someone to enter the contest with me.”
Fiona grinned. “Um … hello?”
Aimee laughed out loud. “Yeah, Maddie. Duh. Double duh.”
“What?” Madison cried, looking at her friends. She didn’t know why they were teasing her.
“Think, Maddie,” Aimee said. She motioned toward Fiona.
Madison bit her lip and looked over at Fiona. “Would you want to do it? I thought with soccer practice you wouldn’t have time.”
“It’s true, soccer is my life,” Fiona said, giggling. “But I still love computers!”
“Problem solved,” Aimee said emphatically.
“Do you really want to enter … with me?” Madison said.
“Are you kidding? Chet keeps bragging about how he and Egg are going to win. I would love the chance to show him up. Ha!”
From across the table, Fiona made a face at her twin brother. He blew a raspberry back at her.
“Hey, Chet!” Fiona yelled. “Maddie and I were just talking, and I’m entering that computer contest too. SO THERE!”
Chet squinted back with disbelief. “What are you talking about, Fiona?”
“Since you and Egg went ahead and signed on together, Maddie and I are doing the same. And we’re going to win.”
Egg piped up. “You guys … uh, excuse me … girls don’t have a chance.”
“I can’t believe you’d say that!” Madison gasped. She knew he was showing off in front of his friends.
“I dare you to enter,” Egg teased. The other boys at the table laughed.
“You’re so conceited, Egg,” Madison said.
“I double-dare you!” Chet said, still laughing.
Aimee leaned over to Madison. “Why are you guys getting so worked up about this? It’s just a dumb computer contest,” she whispered.
Madison thought for a moment.
This was way more than just one contest. This was some kind of junior high ritual. It was a test of friendships. It was her chance to show Egg that he’d made a major mistake in not asking his oldest friend—her—to do the contest first.
“Aimee, a computer contest may sound dumb to you, but it really isn’t dumb,” Madison explained. “Not to me, anyway.”
“So, Maddie, is it a dare or what?” Egg asked again.
Madison nodded. “Absolutely,” she said, crossing her fingers under the table. Fiona and Chet were still screaming at each other, even though they could barely be heard above the sound of other voices, silverware, trays, and backpack zippers in the lunchroom.
For the remainder of the school day, Madison replayed the lunchroom exchange over and over in her mind. When she arrived at Aimee’s house later that night, Madison immediately turned on her laptop. She wanted to continue working on her file marked, “The Contest.” Her mind swirled with thoughts. As always, Madison had to overthink everything. Had she done the right thing? Did she and Fiona really have a chance to win? Would this mean the end of her friendship with Egg?
An Insta-Message from TweenBlurt.com interrupted all the questions.
Fiona was online. She wanted to talk—now. Madison scooted into the chat room.
a poll online? I always wanted to do that
Madison and Fiona chatted back and forth about different webpage ideas, but neither of them could agree on a direction for the contest. They decided to meet over the weekend to finalize their plan. Fiona suggested that she spy on her brother so she could get information about what he was planning to do on the webpage with Egg. Madison wasn’t sure that was fair, but then decided that anything seemed fair in this game.
And after all, it was a double dare.
When Fiona logged off, Madison headed into her e-mailbox. She had five spam messages, so she quickly deleted them. Bigwheels hadn’t written back yet, so she popped off another quick e-mail to her. She needed the advice now more than ever.
From: MadFinn
To: Bigwheels
Subject: Fw: Need Your HELP!
Date: Thurs 14 Sept 5:02 PM
Did u get my last e-msg from yesterday? I attached it again below just in case.
Hey, I found a partner for the contest but now I am stuck figuring out what 2 do for it. My BFF Fiona is my partner. She is so nice but 4 this we’re up against her brother so she is mad crazy to win, saying all this competitive stuff. It makes me a little nervous, like extra pressure to win. I think we do have a chance even though Egg is hands down the smartest guy in the contest. I would only admit that to you, BTW. If he knew I thought that he’d never let me forget it. So do u have any brilliant ideas for us? Ur wicked good @ computers, I can tell. Once again, I need ur help.
SO … HELP!!!!!
Yours till the web pages,
MadFinn
Chapter 3
THE CONTEST
What a week! Fiona and I have been going bananas trying to figure out what to do for our webpage. We’ve had all these ideas, but it seems like everything we come up with is waaaaay too complicated. Like, I wanted to have a chat room, so people could discuss their homework. Good idea, right?
Wrong.
It’s impossible to build, plus we’d need a 24-hour moderator … so that’s out.
Fiona said we should have some funky graphics; maybe design our own stuff. But the software we’d need is seriously expensive. More than $300—on sale! I still think we can find something online for free, but what if we download something that has a virus?
It feels like our list of a billion ideas = a big zero. I wonder what Chet and Egg are doing? Fiona has been trying to pull some 007 on them, but she hasn’t had much luck. Which is fine by me. Part of me doesn’t even WANT to know what they’re up to.
Rude Awakening: It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye—or a contest. I know winning isn’t everything … it’s just the only thing you can think about when you’re losing!
I hope Bigwheels writes back soon. I need MORE inspiration! We have to win! I can’t take Egg’s bragging for the rest of junior high.
HELP!
“I don’t know, Maddie,” Madison’s father’s voice cut into her thoughts. “I think that this dinner might be a big mis-steak.”
Madison sighed and placed her elbows on the kitchen table, cradling her chin in her hands.
“Not even a courtesy chuckle?” Dad asked from his place by the stove.
Madison gave him a lopsided smile. “Maybe if you didn’t crack the same joke every time you made steak for dinner—”
“Hey,” Dad protested, “I’m like glue, Maddie. When I get a good joke, I stick with it.”
Madison didn’t laugh even though she was happy to be hanging with Dad right now. He’d just gotten back from a business trip, so Madison and Phin were staying with him instead of Aimee tonight. Whenever Madison stayed over, Dad acted like it was a special occasion. He was even making her favorite dinner—steak and french fries.
Best of all, Madison had her father all to herself. Lately, Dad always wanted to hang out as a threesome with his girlfriend, Stephanie. Madison liked Stephanie—a lot. But, sometimes she wanted to be a Dad hog. Tonight was one of those times.
Dad flipped the steak, which let out an angry hiss. The delicious smell of grilled meat filled the kitchen and Madison’s stomach let out a growl. “Will it be ready soon?” she asked eagerly.
“Yep,” Dad replied. “Better clear the table.”
Madison powered down her laptop and stuck it into her bag. Then she got out the place mats and set the small table that sat in the corner of the kitchen.
“Dinner is served,” Dad said as he placed the plates on the table.
Madison took a fry and popped it into her mouth. “Mmm.” Dad’s fries always came out perfect—extra-salty, just the way Madison liked them.
“Hey!” Dad protested, “Wait for me to—ketch up!” He held out a bottle of Heinz ketchup as Madison rolled her eyes and shook her head.
“Hmm,” Dad said as he settled into his seat. “That makes a few no-laughs in a row. Is everything okay, sweetie?”
Madison sighed. Dad was so good at knowing how she was feeling. “It’s just that Fiona and I entered this contest. We’re supposed to design a webpage … and it’s a little harder than we thought it would be.”
“Bit off more than you could chew, eh?” Dad asked as Madison bit into a piece of steak. That actually made Madison laugh a little, and for a minute she was so busy trying to chew and laugh at the same time that she nearly choked.
“Dad—I’m being serious!” Madison protested as she took a drink and gulped down the piece of steak.
“I know, sweetie, I’m sorry.” Dad looked sheepish. “But, hey—maybe I could help you with your project. I know a thing or two about websites, you know.”
Madison grinned. “Of course! That would be great!” she said happily. Dad had already created a few start-up websites. He knew pretty much everything about setting up webpages and making them work. Why hadn’t she thought of this sooner?
“So—” Dad said. “What kind of webpage are you building?”
“It’s a homework-helper site,” Madison explained. “It has to be something educational. Fiona and I want to make something that looks really cool—but the graphics we like best take forever to download. Some of them even crashed my computer.”
“Hmm,” Dad said, obviously thinking hard. “It seems to me that the most important thing is to have a webpage that works,” he said finally. “If it’s a homework helper, it’s important for it to be helpful.”
“Right,” Madison agreed. “That’s one of the things they said specifically in the rules. The winning entries have to be functional. Design and style are graded in separate categories. They don’t count for as many points.”
At her feet, Phin let out a low whine and looked up, sniffing the air. Madison cut off a tiny sliver of steak and slipped it to him.
“What you need is useful content, and lots of it,” Dad went on. “If you want to have special effects—like graphics and sound—just be sure that there’s a point to them.”
Madison sighed. “The only problem is, I don’t know where to start!”
“Have you checked out any other homework-helper websites?” Dad asked.
Madison’s eyes grew wide. “Umm—no,” she admitted, slightly embarrassed that she hadn’t thought of something so obvious.
Dad grinned. “Maybe we should start there. Why don’t you pull out the laptop while I take care of the dishes?”
Madison snatched the last two fries off her plate as Dad cleared the table, popp
ing one fry into her mouth and tossing the other one to Phin. Then she pulled out her laptop.
Dad had made the webpage project sound like fun again.
After the dishes were done, Dad pulled his chair next to Madison. She typed “homework” into a search engine and waited for the number of searches to come up onscreen.
Search: HOMEWORK.
Total items found: 11,321,395.
“See?” Dad said. “There’s plenty of stuff to look at.”
“Eleven million entries? I think I’ll start with the top three,” Madison said, clicking through to a site called hellohomework. It had a list of school subjects and a complex database, including an online atlas and encyclopedia.
“This page is outta site!” Dad said, winking.
Madison clicked through to look at the atlas. “They’ve got a ton of great stuff,” she agreed, ignoring Dad’s bad pun. “But we could never make anything this complicated.”
“No,” Dad said, sitting back in his chair. “But you could provide a link to this page.”
“Oh—” Madison said. “Right!” She clicked back to the search engine and tried another site. This one was mostly science centered, and had detailed information on plants and animals. Madison added the link to FAVORITES and kept surfing while Dad scooped out dessert.
“Dad?” Madison called out. “I’m trying to use the search feature, but it doesn’t work.”
“Too much stuff on that page,” Dad said, slurping a spoonful of ice cream. “It’s real slow. That’s a good example of what not to do.”
“Oh,” Madison said. She nodded and clicked to a different page with a scrolling list of books by different authors.
“I just can’t wait to tell Fiona about all these sites!” Madison said.
“Why don’t you give her a call?” Dad suggested.
“Yeah!” Madison snatched the cordless phone off the wall and punched in Fiona’s number, grinning.
“Hello?” said a male voice on the other end of the phone line.
Madison’s grin evaporated.
Chet!
Just say hi, Madison told herself. She opened her mouth, but she couldn’t make any sound come out. She didn’t want to speak to Fiona’s brother under any circumstances. Before she realized what she was doing, Madison hung up with a slam.
